


Made of Stars

by Mercenary



Series: Made of Stars Verse [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Eventual Romance, Friendship, Galactic Conflict, M/M, Space Battles, Space Heroes, Space Pirates, space adventures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 07:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercenary/pseuds/Mercenary
Summary: The USN Detroit goes down during an ambush, for reasons unknown. Lieutenant Commander Katsuki Yuuri had not expected to survive it. He should be glad, he should be grateful, but he has questions.The loss of his old berth has consequences, and Yuuri is left with difficult decisions to make. Was he truly made to exist amongst the stars?





	Made of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Self-indulgent Space Opera WIP, one that has been lurking in my files for quite some time. I have a bunch of snippets set within the verse. It seemed a waste not to post any of them. Same old spiel with my stuff: edit, what is editing?

                             ~~**Bragari Quadrant, Sector 8, 2200 hours**~~

The USN Detroit shook violently as she fought the tractor beam attempting to entrap her.

On the bridge, Lieutenant Commander Katsuki Yuuri glanced at the Captain, both sharing the same desperate look.  With their hyperdrive systems offline after the initial blast that had caught them unawares during a shields reconfiguration, and the way the engines had followed soon after…

They had been caught in a spectacularly planned trap.

“All personnel begin evacuation!” Captain Cialdini of the USN Detroit commanded over the comms. Like Yuuri, he made no effort to remove himself from his station. The Captain stared out through the viewports, eyes focused on the Xez-Class Starfighters that blocked them in, unnecessarily.

Engines were dead. Shields barely holding. The 45-year-old USN Detroit had been scheduled to be decommissioned in the next two years, Yuuri thought. He multitasked and took advantage of the fact that F-P compartments were now clear of life signs to divert all power away from where it wasn’t needed.  Yuuri winced as almost immediately because they were sealed off from the rest of the ship just as the enemy were ruthless in their barrage.  

“Sir, we have shuttles departing from blocks F-P.  Enemy ships not pursuing their escape, sir!” Yuuri reported grimly, dark thoughts flashing through his mind’s eye at what the intentions behind this unprecedented ambush could mean. “USN Detroit is the target, sir!”

“Well…” the Captain trailed off humorously. “It isn’t as if we’ll be going anywhere, Yuuri.”

They were the only two left on the bridge now. USN protocol demanded that all personnel abandoned ship when circumstances demanded. But Yuuri had been trained as an Imperial Japanese naval Officer, before being seconded to the USN forces when he turned eighteen.  It meant something. 

Yuuri would not leave until such a time Celestino left. Even so, neither of them could leave until the ship was evacuated in entirety, and by then it would likely be far too late for them. He had to be brave at this very moment as he stood on the cusp of death.  Strong and unflinching as he faced death with dignity and decorum.  

He watched the shields be whittled down with each volley. Yuuri struggled to keep his balance as the beams gained traction -  what little disrupter particles the Detroit had left losing effectiveness in countering the tractor beams. 

What could they do? What could he do? His brain was buzzing and his head pounding beneath the harsh emergency lightning of the bridge. His fatigues too constricting as panic well and truly set in. If they abandoned the bridge then the attacking force might turn their attention to the escaping shuttles.

There was no escape from the enemy vessel and accompanying fighters.   

“Shields critical.” Words that both condemned them and released them from the burden of trying to find a way out of their current circumstances. “Only three hundred seconds worth of disrupter particles left.”

Not even close to being enough to last until the USN forces would make it to them. Strangely, it wasn’t a devastating blow; the realisation that they had no other recourse made it easier on him, and enabled him to steel himself. There would be no magical save that he had failed to uncover. It wasn't his fault.

Nothing.

They both looked at one another and no words passed between them. Even the panic had faded now that all other avenues were exhausted for them. Captain Cialdini smiled warmly at Yuuri as if it were any other day on the bridge of the Detroit. 

Yuuri blinked back tears that were forming.  He offered a weak and watery smile in turn, as he ignored the frantic beeping of the interface.  What point was there in monitoring things when they were at the end?

“It has been an honour, my friend.” Celestino Cialdini stated. He released his tied taupe-brown hair with a satisfied sigh.

They both turned to look outwards to the brilliance of space. Staring out into the darkness with the nebula far in the distance lighting their way. Pinpricks of brilliant light that was nearly enough to divert his mind from their current circumstances for a brief second. Until the Detroit violently veered to the left, the force of the movement sending both Yuuri and Celestino smashing against the abandoned side communication consoles.

His head smashed against the bottom edge and Yuuri struggled to find his bearings. He squinted as the acrid smell of smoke filled his nose.  Was this it? He wondered, as he half-heartedly tried to right himself.

 _‘I’m sorry,’_ he thought for his family waiting for him to return to Hasetsu. Patiently, waiting for a son who had been too selfish and undutiful to return home to his parents even when on leave. Regrets filled his mind now, accompanied with fresh bitter tears that were not from the pain of his bleeding head. _‘I wish I could have been a better son and brother. I wish I had been better as a Lieutenant Commander.’_    

Yuuri could hear Celestino swear loudly. Alive for just a little bit longer; before they both became nothing but more stardust floating in the expanse of space.

Ship klaxons screamed and hurt his ears; the seconds were running out before the shields would hold no longer, and all that was left to do was wait for them to be engulfed in the explosion that would take them. 

An older design like the Detroit had no escape shuttles or pods available for access within the bridge. That had been part of the reason she was being decommissioned. It just felt ironic that even now when the last shuttle had departed the ship that they couldn’t evacuate either. Yuuri didn’t want to die here.

His lungs ached and his throat burned from the acrid smoke. And so, his thoughts returned to the hot springs of home, of the revitalising waters that soothed all aches and pains away and he mourned silently for what was out of reach forever now.  There would be no next times.

“Cele-Celestino, thank you for everything,” Yuuri choked out, trying to find comfort that he would not meet his end alone. 

“USN Detroit, can you respond? This is Lieutenant Sara Crispino of the USN Clytemnestra. We are approaching your coordinates – a rescue team have launched…” 

Yuuri suddenly couldn’t stop coughing, his airway narrowing from the smoke inhalation. He felt something alight in his chest – hope – as he pushed away the distracting dizziness and realised that the tractor beam had lost traction…

He hadn’t imagined that voice? It really was Sara that managed to speak to him through the crackle of the coms. 

A sharp burst of laughter mingled with his hacking cough as he pulled himself upwards.  He tried to guide his way blindly to a communication unit.  He grasped at sharp edges until his fingers found the familiar bevel edge of the back-up alert system controls. 

As the smoke closed his airway, making it impossible to breathe, he found himself stumbling away from the unit. Yuuri felt his knees buckle completely.  He had no strength to break his fall. His nose smashed against the side of the unit as he went down for the very last time.

 

 


End file.
